Stitching the Gaps
by Midnight Rose Princess
Summary: When Damian gets injured and forced to stay in bed, Dick asks Tim to look out for him while he goes on patrol. Could this be a recipe for disaster, or a chance for Tim to gain a little brother? And what does Lilo and Stitch have to do with anything?


**Title:** Stitching the Gaps

**Authoress:** MidnightRosePrincess

**Summary: **When Damian gets injured and forced to stay in bed, Dick asks Tim to look out for him while he goes on patrol. Could this be a recipe for disaster, or a chance for Tim to gain a little brother? And what does Lilo and Stitch have to do with anything?

**Genre: **Family

**Midnight's Note:** This fic was written to celebrate Tim's birthday (July 19). I was having a writer's block, but had this plot bunny for Damian on my mind and realized: what better gift could Timmy recieve on his birthday than a peace treaty of understanding between him and the little demon? I know this fic focuses on Damian, but it means in the end it makes life easier for Tim. So everyone wins. Hope everyone enjoys it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the characters in this story. Tim Drake and all the other DC characters belong to DC Comics. Lilo and Stitch belong to Disney.

* * *

"You want me to _what_?"

"Come on, Timmy, please? I can't let Joker's goons run loose when Bruce is trusting me to watch it while he's off helping Superman over in Metropolis and it's just for tonight."

Tim stared at his older brother across from the living room in Wayne Manor, with only Alfred as witness while standing off to the side. After getting a call from Dick asking for a favor, Tim had come to the manor to see what he needed. He expected maybe he needed some help on patrol, or to handle something for Wayne Enterprises, but he certainly did not expect something like this.

Dick was offering him to do the impossible: watch over Damian for a night.

The new Robin had gotten himself injured on a patrol: a broken leg and a bruised hip. However, it was recommended that bedrest would be the best cure, and seeing as how he'd been fighting off a fever from the Gotham rain, it wasn't like he was any good on his feet anyway.

But Dick still needed to go on patrol, and he needed someone to make sure Damian didn't try to leave out of stubborness. Tim was apparently the only person who could physically stop him if need be, but still.

Tim put his fingers over his eyes. "Dick, he's not going to do anything I say. He'll fight me at every little turn because it's me."

"He can't even get out of bed, Tim," Dick said.

"And since when has that ever stopped any of us?" Tim asked.

Dick smirked at the joke, remembering Tim causing mayhem through a laptop alone and Jason once playing darts with batarangs when he was sick. "Please Tim, just for one night."

Tim sighed in defeat. "Fine. Just one night. Though if that little demon does try to kill me, I will fight back."

Dick sighed in relief and gave Tim a quick hug. "Just don't kill each other until I get back, ok? He's in his room and I already told him you were going to watch him and I'll have the comm on."

Tim nodded. "All right. Now get going or those goons might actually accomplish something."

Dick raced off down to the cave to suit up and start up the patrol. Tim ran his fingers through his hair as Alfred came up to stand next to him.

"What did I just agree to, Alfred?"

"Should I bring you up a cup of chamomille tea with his medicine, Master Timothy?" Alfred asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, thanks Alfred. I have a feeling I'll need it." With that, Tim made his way up the stairs to Damian's room and knocked (though the brat wouldn't have done the same, since he saw locked doors as a challenge).

"Drake, if it's you, I don't require your services," came a voice through the door.

Taking that as good a cue to enter as any, Tim walked in. Damian was propped up on pillows against the headboard and apparently sulking. The only light in the room came from a lamp on the side table.

"I don't recall giving you permission to enter my room Drake," he hissed.

"You addressed me. You might as well address me to my face," Tim snapped back. "Besides, it's not like you care when it's the other way around."

Damian huffed as Tim sat in the chair next to Damian's bed (no doubt set up for Dick).

"So you're just sitting here in the dark, doing nothing?"

"What's it to you, Drake?"

"Come on, we hero-types rarely get some downtime, and here you are with a perfectly good opportunity to take it easy, and you're not enjoying it."

"Oh, so I should enjoy having a broken leg?"

"No, but you should make use of the free time it gives you."

"What use can I make of time if I can't do anything? I can't train like this."

"Why train? Why not watch a movie like most other kids your age do?"

Damian huffed again, glancing at the tv on the wall. "Fine. I guess Van Helsing or something would do."

"But you don't even like those, even though you've seen them a hundred times. Why not try a kid's movie?"

Damian deadpanned at him for a second before raising an eyebrow. "Are you insulting my intelligence?"

"No," Tim said. "It's just... In a way kids' movies can be just as effective as an older audience's movie. It's actually more of a challenge."

At that word Damian seemed curious. "How so?"

"Well, movies aren't just made to entertain. Some are made to get a message across to the audience. Kids' movies have to get some of the same messages across, but through subtler means. Sometimes, that makes the message have more of an impact on them."

Damian looked unimpressed. "Most of the ones I've heard about seem to have some educational lesson like 'be nice to others' or have some other such nonsense."

Tim shrugged. "Those movies they show at school aren't usually very interesting, I admit."

"Then what movie would you recommend, Drake?"

Tim shrugged. "Well, we have a few saved up since there was that one time I had to look after that little girl Helena for a bit. Let me go look, should be in the spare room." On his way out, Tim poked his head back through the open door. "Don't try anything." He popped back out again.

Damian huffed. He'd have like to try something, but Nightwing had already confiscated the batarang he'd hid under his pillow before Drake had arrived.

Tim came back in with a dvd and Damian watched him turn on the tv to put it in the dvd slot. At that moment Alfred came in and gave him his medicine, which he swallowed despite the bitter taste with no complaint (because he wasn't as weak as children who complained about it). Tim came back over and Damian snatched the dvd case out of his hand to look at it.

"'Lilo and Stitch'... What the heck is this about?" Damian asked.

Tim sipped the chamomille tea from the mug Alfred had left him and pointed to the back of the case.

Turning it over, Damian read the summary as the previews of other movies played through on the tv.

_On the lush and tropical Hawaiian Islands, an independent little girl named Lilo adopts what she thinks is an innocent puppy, completely unaware that he is a mischievous creature who has escaped from a faraway planet. Stitch takes Hawaii by storm, wreaking havoc and hanging ten while he evades the alien bounty hunters who are bent on recapturing him. It's an action-packed comedy the whole family will enjoy over and over again._

"What on earth made you choose this one, Drake?" Damian asked, tossing the case onto the side table.

"I've never seen it before, but I heard it was really good," Tim answered.

The previews were still going, when suddenly there was a beeping sound. Tim reached into his pocket and opened up, not a comm, but a cellphone. He looked at the caller id and answered. "Hey Cass, what's up?" Tim listened for a moment. "How bad it is?" he asked. He listened some more than nodded. "Give me a sec and I'll help with the security."

He stood up and looked at Damian. "Cass needs some help hacking a security system over in Hong Kong. I'm not leaving, of course, since I can hack it through a connection on my laptop. But I'll need to focus. I'll be oustide in the hall if you need me."

"Don't hold your breath, Drake. Go help Cain."

Tim rolled his eyes and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Damian looked back at the tv screen to see the movie was starting.

It started with a trial of sorts in front of a council. The scientist Jumba was obviously not helping his case.

_"Show us that there is something inside you that is good."_

Damian smirked at the blue creatures answer. He found himself instantly pegging this Gantu character as a foe easily outsmarted who had a false sense of security in that he was in control. It was something Damian had seen in Gotham often enough, even on the side of 'good.' Bullock was a prime example of this. Without much effort, Experiment 626 had escaped.

_"Yeah, he took the red one."_

Damian smirked again. _If you're going to escape, at least do it in style. _Of course, the alien just happened to land on an island, despite the fact that 70% or more of the planet was covered in water. This agent Pleakly was annoying him, maybe because Damian took affront to being referred to as 'simple minded.' Karma kicked in though apparently, and as one who twisted situations into his favor on a regular basis, Damian could recognize when Jumba did it.

The movie then started to follow a little girl on the island as she ran to what he assumed was a dance class. _Water on a hardwood floor... not a good idea. _Proven right, he continued to watch. He was confused as soon as Lilo started speaking.

He assessed the situation as it progressed. This Lilo girl's guardian was her older sister, and a social worker was checking up on them, most likely to see if Nani should have custody. Lilo didn't fit in and was kind of weird, which caused issues between them. The insuing argument was confusing to say the least. However, they tried to reconcile.

_"We're a broken family, aren't we?"_

_"No. ...Maybe a little. Maybe a lot."_

Damian thought a bit at that. When Batman was gone, they were a broken family. Even if they _were_ a family before that. Jason was off losing his mind, Drake was usually traveling or working alone, Cain was in Hong Kong, Brown was with Oracle for training, and Dick was the only one who really tried to hang around him. Everyone in this so-called family was messed up somehow: parent-issues, mistakes, the list went on.

_"People treat me different."_

_"They just don't know what to say."_

Damian could sort of relate. Drake never trusted him, so usually he just seemed to avoid speaking to him directly unless he need to. He wondered what Grayson must've had to do to get him to agree to this.

But, naturally, the pace of the movie had to pick up sometime, and 626 had entered the atmosphere apparently. He crash landed and was apparently trigger-happy. Then again, he was programmed for destruction. The little guy was built hardy if he could endure being run over by three semi-trucks.

Lilo adopted 626, as the dvd case had promised, and gave him a name: Stitch.

_"His destructive programming is taking effect. He will be irresistably drawn to large cities, where he will back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal everyone's left shoe."_

"Clever," Damian whispered. Stitch's resulting fit from finding out he was on an island was amusing. The montage of Stitch trying to adjust was kind of slow, but eventually it ended to show them at a restaurant where Nani worked. When Stitch started to smell something, Damian facepalmed. "You're not seriously going to fall for that..." he whispered. But he did, and it got Nani fired. Once home, Nani was seriously considering taking him back to the pet shelter. Lilo, of course, was against this.

_"He was an orphan and we adopted him! What about OHANA!"_

_"He hasn't been here that long."_

_"Neither have I! Dad said ohana means family. Ohana means family. Family means nobody-"_

_"''Nobody gets left behind..."_

_"Or?"_

_"Or forgotten."_

Damian had a feeling that the message of the movie had just been named. It wasn't done subtlely at all. He was going to get Drake for tricking him into this. But, seeing as how he couldn't get up to stop the movie, he'd have to sit through it.

By the time he started paying attention again, Lilo was trying to get Stitch to stop attacking everything.

_"You know, you wreck everything you touch. Why not make something for a change."_

And so Stitch started to build, and build, and build, though it wasn't shown what exactly he was making... until the camera zoomed out. Damian blinked.

_"Wow. San Fransisco."_

Then Stitch started to imitate the B-horror movie from earlier by destroying the model city.

_"No more caffeine for you."_

Damian chuckled at that, but Pleakly, the annoyance from earlier, soon became victim to mosquitos, which actually made Damian giggle. However, Jumba had made an observation. He'd created something that had no other purpose than to destroy, and afterwards, that left his creation with nothing. Not even memories.

Stitch tried to entertain himself by finding a book to read. He found one with ducks in it and woke Lilo up to explain it.

_"That's the ugly duckling. See, he's sad because he's all alone and nobody wants him. But on this page, his family hears him crying and they find him. Then the ugly duckling is happy, because he knows where he belongs."_

This seemed to reach a level inside of Stitch, and Damian found himself musing over it, too. The plot picked up again with Nani searching for a new job and Lilo trying to mold Stitch into Elvis, a model citizen. And Stitch tried, but the camera flashes ruined everything. The fat guy lost his ice-cream _again_, and Nani lost another potential job.

That David guy from earlier took them surfing. Stitch was the odd one out for a while, and he tried to give it a chance, despite the dangers water posed for him. Then Jumba and Pleakly jumped Stitch while he was on the board. The social worker had seen it happen, and it was obvious that time was up.

_"You know, I really believed they had a chance. Then you came along."_

Damian started to feel just a little bit sad. A lot of this stuff had been played for laughs, but this would be a serious situtation to be in. It was even starting to get across to Stitch that everything someone does has consequences. Stitch went back inside and saw the picture Lilo had freaked out over earlier. It was of her and Nani, and two others who must have been their parents.

_"That was us, before. It was rainy, and they went for a drive. What happened to yours? I hear you cry at night. Do you dream about them? I know that's why you wreck things, and push me. Our family's little now, and we don't have many toys, but if you want, you could be a part of it. You could be our baby and we'd raise you to be good. Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind. But if you want to leave, you can. I'll remember you though. I remember everyone who leaves."_

Damian felt his eyes tearing up, and tried to wipe them away, feeling ridiculous for doing something as weak as crying over a kids' movie. His mother had taught him that crying was a weakness, and that weakness of any kind was punishable by death. But something about what Lilo had said had hit close to home for the young Robin, and more than that, the way she said it. She said it as if she was completely used to others walking out on her life. From what the movie showed, she would be, but still... He'd heard that tone of voice from someone else. The more he thought about it, he realized he'd heard that same tone from... Drake.

He shook that thought from his mind and looked back to the movie and saw Jumba approaching Stitch.

_"...waiting."_

_"For what?"_

_"Family."_

_"Ah... You don't have one. I made you."_

_"Maybe... I could..."_

_"You were built to destroy. You can never belong."_

Damian gripped the blankets tighter. He refused to cry more than once. He didn't understand why this movie was making him feel so ridiculously weak. It couldn't be the only reason for his tears. It was probably the faint fever that had been trying to worm its way into his system. It probably was weakening his mental strengths as much as his physcial. He nodded at that conclusion and turned back to the movie. There was a huge fight, and the result was the house blowing up. Which meant that the social worker was really going to take her away, or he was until Lilo ran away.

Lilo only rejected Stitch when he handed over the burnt photograph of her family. He revealed he was an alien, but Gantu took Lilo, though Stitch could escape. Jumba and Pleakly caught Stitch, and Stitch easily convinced them to help rescue Lilo.

The first half of the rescue was aerial manuevers. Then Stitch proceeded to hijack a gasoline truck and drop it into a volcano, waiting for Gantu to get close.

_"Abomination."_

_"Stupid head."_

Damian grinned. He was actually getting into this now and rooting for Stitch. He rescued Lilo, blew up Gantu's ship, saved Gantu, and they all safely landed to where David could get them to shore. On shore, the Councilwoman was there waiting to take Stitch into custody. Stitch asked to say goodbye, and was allowed to.

_"This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah... still good."_

Apparently, aliens were all about rules, and allowed Stitch to stay based on the fact that they'd technically be stealing if they took Stitch. Stitch's exile status was thereby to be served on Earth and his family were protected by the United Galactic Federation... and Jumba and Pleakly were stranded.

Stitch started up the music, and the future was shown. They rebuilt the house, went through daily life, had fun, travelled, and were a family. Even the social worker was shown hanging out with them, and Nani had started dating David. Stitch was still a bit mischievous, but the consequences weren't too serious since he kept in control.

The credits started rolling, and even though the song wasn't to Damian's tastes, he didn't mind it much. He sat back, and started to think about the movie, trying to understand why it'd had such a strange effect on him. It didn't make sense. But then, when he though back on it, it was easy to see why.

He had a lot in common with Stitch. They were both meant to do something bad. Stitch had been made to destroy, and he himself had been born to be an assassin. They'd each rejected that side of themselves; Stitch did when he saw the consequences of his destruction and Damian had when he realized his mother was wrong. They were both orphans who were adopted by a family that was far from perfect, but still good despite its problems. Each of their families were trying to raise them to be good.

But whereas Stitch ended up happy, Damian couldn't say the same for himself. He felt he always had to fight for his right to even be there, and it was so hard to get rid of a superiority complex instilled in him since birth. Unfortunately, he didn't have anywhere to go if he was kicked out of here. His grandfather only wanted him as a prospective new body and his mother had replaced him with another clone. If he lost this family, he'd have nowhere to go.

How could he change? He wanted to think Drake was the problem, but when he really, really thought about it, he knew that Drake had a reason for being mistrustful of him. He'd barged into this family and tried to kill Drake, then took Drake's place out from under him. However, even when Drake was off going around the world to prove Bruce was alive, there had always been that vibe that Dick wanted him to come home. If Damian wanted to make peace with Drake, he'd have to admit that he was wrong and needed help.

The problem was, Damian knew that to get help from members of this family, one usually had to ask for it. But Damian, as much as he wanted to, was too proud to ask. Frustrated by all of this, he found himself crying again.

Tim, having gotten Cass safely through one of the best-secured buildings in Hong Kong and out again with the stolen chip she needed in hand, had bid farewell as he closed the live communications. Looking at the corner of his laptop screen, he saw the time. The movie he'd given Damian to watch was only 85 minutes, and it had been a little over 95 since he left the room. _Guess it's time to check on him,_ he thought. He shut down his laptop and placed it on one of the small tables in the hallway, where his empty tea mug from earlier sat. He walked back over to Damian's room and opened the door.

The sight that greeted him shocked him. There Damian was, on the bed like he had last seen him. The movie had stopped and was waiting on the special features menu silently. Damian, however, was crying. Not fake crocodile tears, but actual, tears-running-down-your face-crying. Damian's eyes darted to him and he covered his face in what Tim supposed was shame.

"Go away, Drake." His voice sounded like it was close to breaking.

Tim came in and pushed the door back behind him as he made his way over to the chair. "What's wrong? Did you accidentally move your leg some? Do you need more medicine?" Tim asked, trying to understand what was going on.

"No!" Damian snapped.

"Then what's wr-"

"This is all your fault Drake!"

Tim blinked. "Mine? How-"

"If you hadn't made me watch that stupid movie-"

"Wait, this is about the movie? Something about the movie made you cry?" Tim asked, surprised that a kids' movie of all things could make this kid cry when almost nothing else did.

"Shut up, Drake, and go away!" Damian said.

Tim shook his head. "Not until you tell me why you're so upset."

"I just told you!" Damian answered angrily.

"No, you told me it was the movie. What about the movie got you upset?"

"Don't act like you care! You're just watching me because Grayson begged you to!" Damian retorted.

Tim growled. "I care about you a lot more than you care about me, brat."

"Yeah, right, you-"

"I took care of you just as much as Dick did!" Tim said.

"Wha-?" Damian said, surprised from Tim's yell.

"When you got here, you were worried that Bruce wouldn't let you be an heir, which was ridiculous since he has a history of adopting orphans. But you knew if you killed me like you wanted to, you would have been shunned by everyone. Even though we took you in, you still kept up that pretense-"

"Because you treated me differently!" Damian snapped, his tears still burning in his eyes. "You don't trust me!"

"I don't trust _anyone_, Damian!" Tim snapped.

Damian blinked, as Tim caught his breath. "Anyone? Not even Grayson?"

Tim winced, and shook his head. "No. I don't. You're changing the subject, though. Even though I didn't coddle you like Dick did, that doesn't mean I didn't care about you. I realized that doing what you did, renouncing the entire life you'd led up till then, and being ready to completely start over even if it meant going against your mom's influence... that took a lot of guts. In a way, it made me respect you."

Damian stared at Tim, not knowing how to reply to that.

Tim continued. "However, you had tried to kill me in the past, and that made me weary of you, if nothing else. But, despite that, I cared about you in my own way. I took care of Wayne Enterprises as much as I could, and I made the press focus on me not just to get Vicki Vale off our trail, but also to keep you out of the tabloids. You may not know this, but when Bruce first adopted Dick, the press implied the most disgusting things about them in the tabloids. When Bruce adopted me, I went through it a bit, too. I didn't want you to go through that. So I made them focus on me, and when I took down the League of Assassins, I also made a subtle warning that if they messed with you, they'd have to mess with me."

Damian sat shell-shocked, floored by this information.

Tim leaned a bit closer. "I care about you, Damian... which is why I'm asking you to tell me what's wrong."

Damian swallowed, and glanced away. Then he said, in a small voice, "Ohana."

"Ohana?"

"They said it means family, and that family means no one gets left behind... or forgotten."

Tim nodded slowly, following along so far. "That's true."

"Stitch, the alien, he... he reminded me of... me."

"How so?"

"His purpose was cause destruction, but when he saw the consequences of his actions, he wanted to change. He was alone and... didn't belong anywhere... didn't even have a family. He was adopted into one, but almost ruined everything for them. But they raised him to be good. It wasn't perfect. It was flawed, but... in the end he was happy. I'm here and... I don't feel... happy. I just feel... here."

Tim took all this in, surprised considering this was the most words Damian had ever said to him that wasn't insulting in any way. He noticed, however, that Damian's eyes were looking wet again. He was about to say something, when Damian said something else.

"I... want to be a part of this family. For real. I mean... I know Grayson cares about me. Father's... distant but he accepts me. Pennyworth puts up with me. Oracle thinks I have potential. Brown seems to think my temper's adorable or some other nonsense. Cain saved me that once. Todd's never here... and you're..." Damian trailed off. "I was afraid... that I'd have to leave but... I don't have anywhere to go to."

Tim felt his heart twist at that. _To hell with it,_ he thought. Giving into one of his rare urges to initiate touch, he climbed onto the bed and hugged Damian.

"Wh-Drake, wh-what are you-?" Damian stuttered.

"Don't think that," Tim said. He looked down at Damian's face and stared him right in the eye. "Don't ever think you ever have to leave. You can always stay here. I'll make sure of it. No more robins are going to be pushed from their nests as long as I have anything to say about it." He gave a small smile, and ruffled Damian's hair. "You can be a pain sometimes, but you're a part of this family. You're the Baby Bat, and we all care about you."

"'Baby Bat'?"

Tim smiled. "You didn't know? Dick comes up with nicknames for everyone."

"Really?" Damian asked.

"Really," Tim confirmed. "You know Oracle's is Babs. Dick calls Jason 'Little Bird' while I call Jason 'Jaybird,' since we know he likes it even though he swears he doesn't. Jason and me call Dick 'Dickie-bird' or 'Big Bird,' respectively. They both call me 'Baby Bird' whenever it's not Timmy. Cass is 'Princess Bat' or 'Blackie' depending on her mood, and Steph is 'Eggplant surprise.'" Tim paused at Damian's raised eyebrow. "Long story," he explained. "As for you, well, you're Bruce's son by blood, and since I'm 'Baby Bird,' you get to be 'Baby Bat.'"

Damian gave a small smirk. "I like it."

Tim smiled. "So, Baby Bat, you were worried that since you and me couldn't get along, we'd never be a family? Well, look at us. I'm hugging you, and you haven't tried to run me through with a sword yet."

Damian smiled and wiped the tear tracks from his face. "Don't tempt me," he joked.

Tim smiled bigger.

"...Tim, about what you said earlier, about not trusting anyone?"

Tim's smile faded and he looked at Damian with a poker face. "Yes, what about it?"

"Why?"

Tim sighed and unwrapped his arms from Damian, folding them over his chest through he still leaned on the younger Robin. For a second, Damian thought he wouldn't answer, but Tim proved him wrong.

"The only people I trusted were those closest to me. Then I lost them. After they died, or at least, believed to have died, I just... I was a mess. I couldn't even trust myself, much less anyone else. The only thing I could trust were facts, statistics, data, evidence. Even though they're all back now, that still hasn't really changed. Steph was alive the entire time and knew, but just let me believe she was dead. I love her, but... she lied. Kon and Bart didn't really have a choice or know what was going on, so I can't hold a grudge against them. But still, I've changed since they were gone and we're still adjusting to getting used to the changes in us. As for myself, well... I can trust my limits and my potential, but... I don't know."

There was a moment of silence in which Damian remembered one of Lilo's lines from the movie. _"You know, you wreck everything you touch. Why not make something for a change."_ Damian decided that's what he'd do. Instead of wrecking this fragile bond he had with Drake, he'd make it stronger.

"For what it's worth, Tim... I trust you."

Tim was surprised at Damian's use of his real name, but it made him smile. "Well, we've still got a few hours before Big Bird gets back. Do you want to watch another movie, or-"

"Can we just... talk?" Damian asked.

Tim nodded. "Sure, let's rearrange a bit, though."

Very carefully, Tim moved Damian over a bit more on the bed, mindful of the cast on his broken leg, and kicked off his shoes before climbing in next to him. He moved the pillows down so they could lay down, which Damian didn't mind. He found the dvd remote in the side table's drawer and clicked stop so the dvd wouldn't wear itself out. He turned off the tv, put the remote and the case back on the table, and then turned to face his little brother.

"What do you want to talk about, Baby Bat?"

"Well... I did read your file once. I know you're been though a lot, but... I want to hear it from you. Also, I want to know why Jaybird's never here... and why does Big Bird feel the need to hug everyone? ...And what is the story behind that eggplant thing?"

Tim and Damian talked late into the morning, about everything Tim had been though up until Damian had appeared, how hurt Jason was that nothing had been done to stop the Joker from killing more people and to be called Bruce's worst failure after everything he endured, how Dick was a kinesthetic person who relied on touch to reassure him that others were ok and that his life was real, and even the wacky incident that left Steph with constantly changing nicknames. After a while, they started to doze off, and with the stealth of the master butler he was, Alfred took a quick picture with a camera before shutting the door and going off to tidy up the place.

Later that morning, Dick returned to the cave and was greeted by the butler.

"Hey Alfred," Dick said, taking off the mask and the suit. "Did everything go ok with Tim and Damian?"

"I believe so, Master Richard. It appears that they may have finally reached an understanding." Taking the suit, he handed Dick his civillian clothes.

"Really?" Dick asked, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. "This I have to see." He rushed getting on his shirt as he ran off, careful not to let his jeans tear on the cave's steps.

"Just be careful you don't wake them, sir," Alfred said as he folded the suit, thereby fulfilling his last duty before going to bed.

Dick carefully turned the knob and opened the door, smiling at the sight that greeted him.

Tim and Damian were facing each other while laying on their sides, fast asleep. One of Tim's arms was under the pillow, while the other was draped over Damian. Damian was currently trying to move as close to Tim as possible considering his leg, and his position mimicked Tim's, the only difference being his arm was going over Tim's waist.

Dick found the urge to do something as girlish as squee hard to resist, but resist he did in fear of waking them up. He was tired too (why does Joker have to hire thugs from other gangs?) and doubted he had the energy to make it to his own bed. So, he went around to Damian's side of the bed, furthest from the door, and slid in under the covers as well, wrapping his arms around both of his little brothers. He was almost asleep when Damian mumbled something in his sleep.

"Jason's... ohana, too..." he mumbled.

"Yeah," Tim replied back drowsily. "We'll... get him."

Dick was confused, but decided to ask about it in the morning. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy a good night's rest cuddling two of his little brothers. _Little bird... you need to come home. You're missing out._

After all, nothing torn can be stitched back together unless all the pieces are there.

* * *

Hope that was satisfactory for my dear Timmy. He'll always be my favorite Robin no matter what DC says.


End file.
